ING Insurance (name change?)

[smithtofuhr86]

We deal with ING Insurance. Just got back from vacation tonight and we're going through our mail, we got kind of a shady letter from some place called Intact Insurance Company saying they have taken over ING, just a little nervous as we are about to re-new our home and auto insurance so before I send them a couple grand just wondering are these guys legit? Has anyone else got this letter, thanks in advance for any tips. My brokers closed for the weekend so I can't call them, so no better place to get info then Calgary Puck.

[macker]

March 12, 2009 : ING Canada is no more. In a $2.2 Billion transaction, institutional and retail investors acquired the former subsidiary of Netherlands-based ING Groep, which had a 70% stake in the company. It is now a Canadian-owned, publicly traded entity. Last year ING Canada reportedly generated $620 million. The insurer also has a new name : Intact Insurance.

Personally I am not a fan of the new brand but the company is solid and reportedly has up to 1.1 Billion that they are going to use to likely buy out a company such as Aviva Canada or RSA Canada. Nothing to worry about. As for the ING Direct banking division they are going to remain under the parent company. cut and pasted/font is quite small

[3 Justin 3]

Unless you see it in the news, it is a scam. If ING was changing it's name, it would be all over the news. I wouldn't see why they would change anyway.

Originally Posted by macker

March 12, 2009 : ING Canada is no more. In a $2.2 Billion transaction, institutional and retail investors acquired the former subsidiary of Netherlands-based ING Groep, which had a 70% stake in the company. It is now a Canadian-owned, publicly traded entity. Last year ING Canada reportedly generated $620 million. The insurer also has a new name : Intact Insurance.

Personally I am not a fan of the new brand but the company is solid and reportedly has up to 1.1 Billion that they are going to use to likely buy out a company such as Aviva Canada or RSA Canada. Nothing to worry about. As for the ING Direct banking division they are going to remain under the parent company. cut and pasted/font is quite small

Edit: Maybe I am wrong?

[macker]

Yep. Parent company (Dutch) needed some quick cash and had a garage sale on their CDN Assets...

[Mrs. Rathji]

I got the letter wasn't to concerned about it. Name change wasn't something I thought would be a trouble.

[Finny61]

ING sold its Canadian insurance arm of business it's true. It isn't getting talked about. They deserve it for their market share and bully tactics trying to buy up all the small brokers across the West to gain control of the commercial market. And it's bit them in the ass.

[Hack&Lube]

Well intact insurance certainly doesn't have any cache to it. It sounds like some lame American rip-off insurance company.

Terrible marketing. And they don't have tha Dutch Soap Opera guy doing commercials.

[cKy]

My gf works for ING (Now Intact). They changed they're name about a month and a half ago. Intact bought the PD Insurance - Property and Auto - part of ING (Well, they bought the shares for the Canadian part). ING Insurance is a COMPLETELY different company then ING Fianancial. ING Group has about 5 different sectors they got.

I can also add, they have kept all the same staff, so it's the same service you had before, whether you liked it or not.

[cKy]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Well intact insurance certainly doesn't have any cache to it. It sounds like some lame American rip-off insurance company.

Terrible marketing. And they don't have tha Dutch Soap Opera guy doing commercials.

The Dutch guy has nothing to do with the Auto insurance side of ING. ING (Intact) has never had a auto commercial that I have seen. ING Canada for Auto never had the Dutch guy in the first place. The bank side and the auto a side were and always have been 2 seperate companies.

[kipperfan]

Originally Posted by cKy

My gf works for ING (Now Intact). They changed they're name about a month and a half ago. Intact bought the PD Insurance - Property and Auto - part of ING (Well, they bought the shares for the Canadian part). ING Insurance is a COMPLETELY different company then ING Fianancial. ING Group has about 5 different sectors they got.

I can also add, they have kept all the same staff, so it's the same service you had before, whether you liked it or not.

Yes, but I wouldn't exactly feel comfortable being an Intact customer at this point. Sure you have all of the same "stuff" but you no longer have one of the worlds largest corporations standing behind that "stuff". I think alot of people were reassured being with ING in that it was such a big, financially solid company, especially being in times like these. But now the same cannot be said, the company no longer has the big name behind it, nor do the have the TV ad recognition (despite the fact the German dude worked for a different arm of the company).

Dollars to donuts they lose a fairly large (5-10%) amount of their market share in the coming year.

[ben voyonsdonc]

Within a few months, I expect Intact (terrible, terrible name) to buy up Aviva Insurance. Together they would have a 20%+ market share. Get ready for some serious rate increases!

I worked at ING and now still work in the insurance world and brokers simply laugh and shake their head when they hear the name Intact. They said that they used extensive focus group testing but nobody really believes them. It seems like a temporary name holder until they buy up another company and rebrand again.

[STeeLy]

Man, I have my home insurance in Ottawa with ING... I would hate it if the premium goes up.

I have my car insurance with Bel-Air Direct, which is part of ING, hope that doesn't go up either... cuz I'm already paying out my rear end for that.

[macker]

Originally Posted by kipperfan

Yes, but I wouldn't exactly feel comfortable being an Intact customer at this point. Sure you have all of the same "stuff" but you no longer have one of the worlds largest corporations standing behind that "stuff". I think alot of people were reassured being with ING in that it was such a big, financially solid company, especially being in times like these. But now the same cannot be said, the company no longer has the big name behind it, nor do the have the TV ad recognition (despite the fact the German dude worked for a different arm of the company).

Dollars to donuts they lose a fairly large (5-10%) amount of their market share in the coming year.

You would think on the surface.....ING isn't exactly on firm footing....http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/b...n-bailout.html

I think if I were a customer of ING/Intact I would feel better being Intact than having ING back them. Intact is just that and have started with a clean slate. It is about the worst name I think they could have choosen but ironically it applies here....Terrible logo BTW......see : http://www.intactinsurance.com/en/index.html
As for the stock I wouldn't buy either company as they don't ever go up like the premiums....

[macker]

Originally Posted by STeeLy

Man, I have my home insurance in Ottawa with ING... I would hate it if the premium goes up.

I have my car insurance with Bel-Air Direct, which is part of ING, hope that doesn't go up either... cuz I'm already paying out my rear end for that.

Believe me they won't go up as the result of economies of scale. ING (Intact) has 11.30% market share and Aviva has 8.70% or if they buy RSA that gives them another 4.40% market share. So if any of this speculation happens they will have 15% - 20% market share and I fail to see how any of this factors in to the actuarial tables....I would worry more about your next speeding ticket/accident vs this sentiment...

[STeeLy]

Well, that's good to know... crossing my fingers hopefully you're right.

[Hack&Lube]

It doesn't matter if ING Insurance was never connected to ING financial. The mere fact that the ING guy was so prevalent in marketing on television added cache to the ING name and people usually associate the name ING with those commercials.